60%

Just 40% left to input. I'm still rewriting from the red pen notes and characters are sharpening themselves. Like Evangelyne, who becomes angry with Brendan when it looks like he's trying to be her knight in shining armor against a racist sales clerk. She gets huffy if she thinks someone feels she can't handle herself and needs protecting.

They have a quiet argument in the middle of The Galleria before she realizes Brendan is completely confused about the problem. I'd had it wind back around to him not being able to return to Derry, but then just cut anything that alluded to his past and kept it focused on Vangie misreading his meaning when he barked at the clerk. They'd been insulting to him, as well.

Vangie knows her own value and has no doubts about herself. He does not know his, except when it comes to repairing things. Which is brought home to him when he sees how Everett is, regarding his artistic ability. The man has zero self-confidence, despite doing two elegant portraits -- 1 of Brendan and 1 of Aunt Mari's family. Even the B-girls like what he did.

This gets Brendan to thinking he wants to change the way he sees life and deepen his existence. Not be alone. Not be afraid to do something new, like learn a new language. For no more reason than just to do it.

I may be reading more into my writing than I think, but I like this idea of what I think it is.